


Always Something To Lose

by Cat_Moon



Category: Moonlight (TV)
Genre: F/M, Trope Bingo Round 13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 07:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20689655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_Moon/pseuds/Cat_Moon
Summary: Can Mick's mysterious visitor make his dreams come true?





	Always Something To Lose

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 'Deal With The Devil' prompt/bingo square, for [](https://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](https://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org/)**trope_bingo**  
Demogorgon - Greek name for the devil, it is said should not be known to mortals. Since Mick isn't mortal, it seemed a good choice.

**Always Something To Lose**

Mick stood on the roof, staring at the lights of Los Angeles spread out before him. It was his favorite spot to brood, and he had a lot to brood about tonight. Beth was out of town...with Josh. It shouldn't bother him. Josh was her boyfriend. And Mick was a vampire. There was no future there, even if there hadn't been another guy in the picture. Still, he couldn't help feeling things he shouldn't. Jealousy. Possessiveness. It wasn't healthy. He'd known her since she was nine. Just because he'd saved her life, didn't give him any sort of claim on her.

“It's a good thing I'm not human,” Mick said to the empty roof. “Or I'd burn in hell for sure.”

“Funny you should mention that...”

Mick spun around at the sound of the voice. It was odd he hadn't heard anyone approach, since his vampire senses should have announced the person long before they got this close. “And who are you?” he asked, playing it cool despite his unease. He peered into the darkness, but oddly his eyes couldn't penetrate the shadows the stranger was standing in.

“_You_ may call me Demogorgon,” the man said, stepping out of the shadows and into the light. He was dressed in a dark suit with a long coat over it. His accent hinted at English but was hard to place.

Wondering if he was a fellow vampire, Mick sniffed the air. And smelled nothing. No blood, cologne, not even body odor, nothing but the usual smells of the city. Alarm growing, he cast his hearing out. There was no heartbeat to be heard, either.

“What are you?” Mick breathed.

Demogorgon came closer, a small smile on his lips. “I'm a businessman.”

“And what business are you in?”

“The business of souls, of course.”

Mick barked a bitter laugh. “Boy are you in the wrong place then. I don't have one.”

“That assumes I'm here to collect one.”

Some inner voice told Mick not to ask, not to engage this being any further, but he couldn't resist the compulsion. “Why _are_ you here?”

“To ask _you_ a question,” Demogorgon replied. “If you could have one wish granted, Mick St. John, what would it be?”

His eyes narrowed. “How do you know my name?” He wondered how this being would stand up to vampire strength, if it came to that.

“You Americans, so many questions. It's quite rude.

It was crazy to be standing on his roof, talking to a... a thing, who wasn't alive, and wasn't undead. One who was promising to give him his greatest desire. He would have believed himself to be dreaming, but vampires didn't dream. They slept the bottomless, blackness of the undead. This had to be real.

Mick abruptly laughed. Why not humor this thing, whatever it was (his mind shied away from the obvious answer). It wasn't like he was afraid of death. He was already dead. No soul, no heaven or hell. Nothing to lose. “Sure, okay. My wish would be to be human again. Can you do that?”

“As a matter of fact, I can.”

Mick wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so they stood in silence for a few minutes. He contemplated the impossible. No more blood meals, jugular temptations, watching friends and loved ones die while he was cursed to remain forever among humans yet not a part of their world. To be with Beth...

“What's the catch? That's the usual deal, right? You give me my greatest desire, but want something in return?”

Demogorgon smiled, but there was nothing pleasant in it, it was more predatory than inviting. “Only one. Once done, it cannot be undone. You will never be able to return to the vampire world again. You will be forced to live a meager fifty years growing older, then die.”

“You think that's a catch?!” Mick asked, shaking his head. It only proved he didn't belong in a non-human world. They looked at mortals with disdain, happy being cursed. Mick wanted nothing more than to have the life back that was stolen from him without his permission. He thought about what it would be like. He could win Beth away from Josh. He would have something to offer, could give her a real life. Maybe even... children...

“Do it then!” he demanded, stepping closer. “If you can make me a normal human, do it.”

Demogorgon's smile this time was genuine. “Very well. If you insist.”

Demogorgon struck faster than a snake, hands reaching out to grab the vampire's face. Mick felt himself falling into the dark eyes penetrating him, senses swirling in a maelstrom of chaos. It was like his insides were being pulled out through his pores. He wanted to scream, but had no voice. Time ceased to exist...

Mick blinked, staring around the roof. He was alone. Shaking the confusion out of his head, he took stock of himself. What the hell had just happened? Hallucination? Or could it be real?

He shoved a hand in his pocket and grabbed his knife. Opening the blade, he took a deep breath and held it, then make a small cut on his palm. He watched the blood well up. Waited.

It didn't heal.

Feeling a bit giddy and a bit panicky, Mick brought the hand to his mouth, sucking on the blood.

And made a face of disgust, almost retching, because blood _really_ wasn't the least bit appealing or tasty.

“Oh my God...” he breathed. He looked around the roof wildly, but he was still alone. Alone, and...

“I'm alive.” He fell to his knees as gratitude washed over him. Even if he ended up having to give up his soul in fifty years, he didn't care. It was worth it.

XXX

The rest of the night passed in a blur. He was hungry, so Mick made a trip for some Thai take out and spent a wonderful time enjoying the most delicious food he could ever remember eating. He daydreamed about his 'game plan', how he would coax Beth away from Josh. He knew it wouldn't be difficult. They'd had a connection, a chemistry that couldn't be denied. The only thing that had kept them apart was one of them being a vampire and the other human. Now, no such barrier existed.

Mick was dozing on the couch when the telephone woke him. He struggled to a sitting position, and groped for the cell phone on the table. “St. John.”

“Mick, it's Josef.”

Mick sobered slightly. It was going to be tough telling his best friend he was no longer a vamp. Josef would probably be upset. The older vamp was happy being undead and had never understood Mick's desire to return to the mortal coil.

“Josef, I'm glad you called. I need to come over, there's something I have to talk to you about.”

“I have something to tell you, too,” Josef responded with an odd, hesitant quality to the delivery.

Mick finally noticed the tone of his friend's voice. Something was wrong. And if it was a vampire thing, he wasn't going to be able to help anymore... “What is it?” he asked with trepidation.

The pause on the other end of the line was ominous. “I should do this in person, but I can't leave the house right now. It's Beth, Mick.”

Mick's breath caught in his throat at the name of the woman he loved. “What the hell are you talking about?!” he demanded. It wasn't anything bad. It couldn't be bad.

“She and Josh had a fight,” Josef continued in a rough voice. “So she left the resort and came home early. She was attacked outside her apartment, the man had a knife.”

Mick wanted to interrupt, stop him, but his voice wasn't working and Josef continued the damned flow of words.

“She couldn't get a hold of you by phone.”

“No!” Mick hadn't gotten any calls, no messages or texts. Nothing since Demogorgon had shown up, until now. It was obviously not a coincidence.

“So Beth called me. She was bleeding out, and she knew she wouldn't make it to the hospital. It wasn't survivable,” Josef pressed the point emphatically. “She asked me, Mick.”

“No!” Futile denial, ignored by the universe. He wanted to scream his anguish, but it would do no good. The deal was done.

“I had to turn her.”

“No...” Mick whispered, tears trailing down his human face.

_Be careful what you wish for..._

“Look Mick, I know how you feel about the whole vampire thing, but it'll be okay. She's doing great, and anxious to see you. And look at the positive side, now the two of you can be together. Forever, if that's what you want.”

_“Once done, it cannot be undone. You will never be able to return to the vampire world again.”_

“No. We can't,” Mick told him and pushed the end call button, tossing the phone back onto the coffee table. Too late he'd realized his mistake. He'd never asked about the price.

_There was always a price to be paid._

Nothing had changed, except that he was now human and Beth a vampire. The same thing keeping them apart yesterday was still between them today. Worse. If he'd had a choice, he would have kept the curse of the vampire, and let Beth live her normal, human life. She could have been happy, with Josh. Married, raised a family. That life was dead to her now.

And it was Mick's fault.

XXX

Mick had a moment of panic upon awakening. He flailed, almost falling off the couch, before awareness returned and his heartbeat started slowing to normal. He rubbed at his eyes, willing the cobwebs to recede. This was an experience he hadn't had in many decades.

When he sat up, his eyes went to the dining table where the remains of a feast was strewn about. Hot dogs, pizza, donuts, over a dozen different items. Something nagged at him about that, a feeling of wrongness. It shouldn't be there. Last night he'd gone out to the Thai place on the corner, gotten the Panang Curry and a Thai ice tea. Came home and later got the call from Josef. So where did all the other food come from?

When he remembered, he wanted to cry from utter and complete relief.

Yesterday he'd taken Coraline's cure and become temporarily human. He'd binged on all the foods he'd missed all these years, eaten until he couldn't move. Fallen asleep on the couch. Vampires don't dream, no, but he was human right now. And the roof, Demogorgon, the deal... had all been a dream.

A nightmare.

Mick didn't know what was going to happen next, with the cure or with Beth, but he would try to learn from this overt and terrifying lesson. To appreciate more what he had, and yearn less for what he couldn't have. Try some faith, that no matter what, if he and Beth were truly meant to be, they'd overcome whatever obstacles came their way. Make it work, despite the difficulties and differences.

That was one dream he wanted to make come true.

**The end**

9/18/2019


End file.
